Kinshasa, 22 April, 2020 / 3:53 am (ACI Africa).
As governments across the globe put in place measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has reached out to religious leaders in the Central African nation to support initiatives being undertaken in fight against the pandemic.
“President Felix Antoine Tshisekedi wants to take advantage of the trust that religious leaders enjoy on the part of their followers to correctly convey messages and mount actions in the direction of the fight against this deadly disease that both sides have presented as the common and invisible enemy,” reads in part a press release from the Presidency issued at the end of a meeting that brought together faith-based leaders from different religious denominations Monday, April 20.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the meeting, the head of the delegation of religious leaders, Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kinshasa explained that the meeting was aimed at ensuring coordinated efforts in combating COVID-19, which he described as a “common and invisible enemy.”
“We came at the invitation of the Head of State himself because as you know, he is developing strategies to fight against the coronavirus pandemic and he wants to involve everyone in this fight,” Cardinal Ambongo said and added in reference to President Tshisekedi, “He thought it was time to engage religious denominations in this all-out battle against the common and invisible enemy which is the coronavirus.”
Besides educating their respective faithful on COVID-19, faith-based institutions also have a humanitarian role to play, Cardinal Ambongo, a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin told journalists and added, “We are a credible institution; the government has reached out to us to help in the fight against this global pandemic.”
